The ‘Knowledge Tree’ is an information-sharing project developed by CREE.

Its goal is to help conservation and sustainable development leaders from the developing world access critical information needed for their projects or studies. Often, universities found in the developing world do not have libraries adequately stocked with scientific journal articles or books that students and young professionals need for their studies or projects.

CREE has established a fund that will amass money for putting books and journals in the hands of young ...

A recent United Nations publication looked at the relationship between natural resources and conflict with implications for peace-building. This research showed that environmental stressors can worsen the severity and duration of conflict, and also predicted demographic pressures such as urbanization and inequitable access/shortage of land to worsen this problem in the coming decades. CREE appreciates this analysis, in that it could direct more attention towards environmental conflict remediation.

Camiguin Island is one of the five islands in the Babuyan Islands, Philippines. Recently this island has been ravaged by unusually extreme weather, including a number of typhoons. This has resulted in the death of some villagers, and the destroying of property with obvious livelihoods implications. Recently CREE has decided to lend a helping hand to these affected areas, through the distribution of humanitarian aid.

One may question why a conservation organization should undertake this sort of work traditionally dedicated to ...

Terminology often is just that, terminology. Yet words have meaning behind them. When conservationists work for the improvement of poverty conditions, some call this ‘pro-poor conservation’. A terrible term for a very worthy body of work in my opinion. Indeed, many working on ‘pro-poor conservation’ do fantastic work. Yet CREE has always had a problem with the powerlessness that is inherent behind this term.

Conservation should not be morphed to place a band-aid on the phenomena of ‘poverty’ by working with ...

Community based conservation work does not follow the same time line as traditional conservation. One must move past the historical failures of traditional conservation, which brought large amounts of money into communities fast and with short and limited time lines.

This was often inadequate to clarify community perceptions from environmental work.We feel that relationship-building is in itself a tangible outcome, even if it and other qualitative variables are much harder to measure. CREE’s work which engages local communities will last ...

CREE believes in the power and creativity of the individual. Local people have wonderful and marketable ideas capable of success if they are given the means. Here we see examples of this through two of CREE’s projects. The first picture is Leonard Awkwany, CREE’s Project Manager for Kenya. Here he is sitting on the proud work of local artisans engaged in ‘Cottage Industry Products’, which produces chairs and mats through papyrus. Leonard works with locals to ensure that the harvest ...

This is a picture of Chief Olepelo. He was the first Maasai to institute the ‘lion-proof fencing’. He had continual problems with predators attacking his goats and sheep, particularly hyaena. He sold some of his domestic stock to pay for the costs of the lion fence himself. (You can see the chain link fence behind Chief and his father. It complements the existing fence made from local vegetation)